He can practically feel her eyes bore into him when he mentions Bro, and he knows she's probably trying to down play the fact that she's disappointed he didn't say mom. He keeps his voice level, so she knows that he's both perfectly serious and unfortunately used to the fact that Bro is kicking around.

"Wouldn't surprise me. Karkat made the rounds, but he got kind of focused on his boner for Jade and John. Something about those teeth and that ambivalent cheer, you know?" He shrugs, crossing a little closer to grab her hand, tugging it closer so he can check for splinters before dropping it like he wasn't doing anything.

"Most people don't want to be here, so a big chunk of them are reasonable. I've made friends outside people I knew from home, we have book characters, movie characters, comic characters. Like every conceivable fictional universe exists as its own, real thing alongside ours." He hopes she doesn't think he's fucking crazy. He doesn't want to have to prove that he knows Tony Stark personally. "Every story has a villain. There's plenty of assholes looking to stab their way to the top. Black Tom and Molotov wouldn't hesitate to impale you if you got in their way. I know that from personal experience."