[For Will, Lilo] welcome to my silly life

[girlsolo]

When they get close to Will and Magnus's place, Kate puts her fingers to her lips and whistles. Both Lilo and Bonny come scampering back to her side. Lilo's got her face tilted up and Kate has to arch her eyebrows and cock her head toward the path to keep her from tripping and falling. Bonny's not much help, running around them in circles, jumping up for pets and nudging at Lilo's hands with her nose. She's getting better, though, with Lilo around to give her lots of affection.

They're all getting better. Better enough that Kate's laughing at Lilo asking if Elvis can ever come to the island, even though she's asked every day since she learned. Better enough that Kate's gut's not twisting even knowing what she's coming to talk to Will about. It's a bright good day, and maybe they'll go to the beach and Lilo can surf later.

She whistles again when they get to the hut. This time for Will. It's kind of handy that they all come to the same call. "Hey, Willmeister! You home?" That's just so he doesn't feel like a kid or a puppy.

Comments

[girlsolo]

Kate's about to remind Lilo about inside thoughts and outside thoughts but she can't stop laughing long enough to say it. Because, yeah.

"Good call, kiddo," she says when Will's finished introducing himself. "I've been dying to ask Detective Matchstick that for years."

[ikipelekai]

Lilo laughs because Kate laughs. She reaches out when Will kneels down and pokes his spiky hair. It's stiff and it makes little cracking sounds when she pushes it over. "Wow."

Then she remembers her manners. "Yes, I'm Lilo. You're Kate's ohana. Like Helen."

[inabmovie]

"Well yeah, I guess I am," Will says, after rolling his eyes a little at Kate for Detective Matchstick, and though he doesn't know what ohana means, he gets the general idea that it's something good. He lets her poke at his hair and then he reaches over and ruffles hers a little, though not enough to really mess it up. "And this is where Helen and I live. I'm just doing some cleaning up outside."

[girlsolo]

"Will and Helen are married, Lilo." And going to have a family of their own. She wonders if Helen told him she knows. "And ohana means family." Kate cocks her head at Lilo. "Tell him the rest. And about Stitch. I'm gonna go inside for a minute, 'kay?" She's just going in to get Roy, but she crouches down to give Lilo a hug. "Watch Bonny. Will sucks at it."

[ikipelekai]

Lilo nods, not the kind of shy kid who wouldn't let a familiar face out of her sight. She does give Kate a hard hug back though and watches her while she leaves. It's only after she's disappeared inside that Lilo turns back to Will.

"Family means no one gets left behind or forgotten. Stitch is my dog. He's the best dog in the whole world. He's blue and fuzzy and he can talk. I was mad at him when I ran away but now I miss him. He's part of my ohana too."

[inabmovie]

Will wonders for a second why Kate's going in his house, but it's Kate and she does what she wants and he's really not bothered. "Stitch sounds like he's really cool," Will says, and is pretty sure he's not really a dog. An Abnormal, maybe? But definitely not a dog. Unless fuzzy blue talking dogs are a thing in Lilo's world. "I'm sorry he's not here."

[ikipelekai]

"Me too. And my sister. She tried hard to keep us together but then Cobra Bubbles said that she wasn't doing it good enough." Lilo glances off after where Kate has gone but not like she's nervous being alone with Will. Kate is only going to be gone a little while, she's sure of it. But she can't help worrying a bit anyway.

[inabmovie]

Will's guessing that 'Cobra Bubbles' is a social worker, given the tiny bit of context, but with a name like that, who can be sure? He's dealt with his share (and more) of social workers through the years, so if that's the case, he can sympathise. "I'm sure your sister did a great job," Will says. "Things can be tough, sometimes."

[ikipelekai]

"She tries hard. But she had to quit her job because her boss was a vampire and he wanted her to join his legion of the undead." Lilo's very matter-of-fact about it. It was too bad but what was Nani going to do? It's hard to surf at night.

[inabmovie]

"Huh," Will says; where most people's reaction to that statement would be along the lines of whaaat the hell? or come on, kid, stop telling lies, Will's pretty conversant with the fact that little kids say bizzare things (either because they want them to be true or actually believe they are) and that vampires actually exist(ed). So he doesn't blink an eye, but nods understandingly. "Well, I have to say, if my boss was a vampire, I'd probably quit, too. I know a vampire--well, an ex-vampire--and I definitely wouldn't work for him. Joining the legions of the undead doesn't really sound like a good time, or a good way to raise a little sister, to me."

[ikipelekai]

Lilo grins at Will. Most adults try to tell Lilo that she's wrong or weird or funny (and what they mean is wrong and weird) when she tells them things. Will is obviously much smarter than most adults.

"It's not and that's why she quit. Also because Stitch tried to eat a lady's head. But she was okay." Lilo still feels a little bad about that. "But then Nani didn't have a job and that wasn't good either. And she was trying to find a job but it wasn't easy and then aliens attacked and I called Cobra Bubbles and he came but then he tried to take me away!" She takes a deep breath, having hardly stopped for one that whole speech.

[inabmovie]

"And now you're here," Will says, after she's finished that speech (which is a lot of words, for a little kid). He doesn't tell her she's weird or wrong or a liar, because he knows what that's like, when you're a kid.

[ikipelekai]

"Yes." Lilo is quiet for a moment or two then looks up at Will again thoughtfully. "Kate says that people from home come here sometimes. And that I'll see Nani again."

[inabmovie]

Will nods. He doesn't want to get Lilo's hopes up too much, because that's not really fair, to keep her looking forward to something that might never happen, but there's really no way to ever know. "Helen and I were here for a while before Kate showed up," he says. "And there's still some of our ohana that aren't here. You just never know when someone might show up. Could be tomorrow, could be months from now, could be years from now. But in the meantime, you won't be alone."