Game of Life
Although he was a bit startled when, completely out of the blue, Skye grabbed his shoulder and started leading him somewhere, Grant didn't resist her, but simply let her guide him to the conference table and push him down into a chair, in front her laptop.
"May I ask what we are doing?" he said cautiously, looking at her face as she tapped the touchpad, calling the blank screen to life. They had been slowly rebuilding trust in the last few weeks since he had been let back to the on probation (with compulsory get-togethers with May ex-husband), but they were still far from how they had used to be, and Skye making a move like this put him on edge a little.
"Think of it as a therapy session," she said, pushing a couple of buttons. "An anger management kinda thing?" She brushed a lock of hair behind her ear. "I hear you have some closure issues, so I thought of a way to work with that." The computer finally behaving the way she wanted, she stood and said, "You are going to kill your brother."
Her sentence so stunned him that for a moment he just sat there, gaping at her, trying to reconcile what she had just said with how cheerfully she said it, and it took him a couple of beats the register that all the while she was pointing at the laptop screen. He swallowed and turned towards the computer – only to face the digital rendering of a barren room and inside it a man who, no joking there, actually kind of looked like Christian.
"What the hell is this?" he asked, leaning closer to the screen.
"It's called Sims," Skye explained. "It's a game – you create characters and play with them, live their lives, but the creators have some sick sense of humor, so you can just kill off your characters. It's kinda fun, actually, and I though…" she sighed. "I thought it would help you release some of the anger you have, without actually hurting somebody. And the best thing is: this way you can kill him different ways, as many times as you want." To her credit, Skye actually said this with a smile on her face.
This idea was actually… appealing. Encouraged by her warm approach, he smiled back at her.
"Can you show me how?"
In the following twenty minutes Skye taught him how to kill game-Christian by drowning him in the pool, setting him on fire, and, typing in some command, by having an asteroid falling on him. Watching the little 3D model die was actually, well, not exactly calming, but fun, in a twisted way.
"Could we do this with others as well?" he asked after some time – sadly, he had some demons he would have liked to kill.
"Sure," Skye nodded, then glanced at her watch. "Look, I have some stuff to attend to, so I'll just show you how to create a character so you can move forward, then let you have your fun, alright?"
"So you don't mind if I…" he gestured vaguely towards the laptop.
"Oh, no, knock yourself out. Just don't delete the game – either on purpose or by mistake" she teased, and he couldn't help but chuckle.
True to her word, she brought up another page in the game, with a male character standing in front of full-length mirror on one side, and a bunch of options to change his appearance on the other side. Skye explained how to mold the character and what to do when he was done, then left him to his own devices.
He really got started on a character that was supposed to be resemble Garrett, but his mind wandered. He really didn't want to recall his memories of his former mentor – he needed something positive in his life, or at least that was what Andrew always told him. So, why not play around with the most positive thing in his life – Skye? He found the button to change the character's gender, and started working on his little digital-Skye. After twenty minutes of tweaking around (he just couldn't quite grasp her eyes and nose) and naming her (the game insisted he gave her a last name, too, so he typed Ward, because why not?), he decided that she shouldn't be alone, and started working on his own Sims-version (albeit he put a lot less work into him). Then, just like Skye had told him, he put them on an empty lot.
This was when the fun really started –Skye had told him that the game's real purpose was to imitate life, so there had to be a lot more to it than killing off characters. Tentatively, he clicked on Skye's digital version, and, lo and behold, a whole list of options appeared. He read them through, then chose "chat", as it seemed harmless enough. Then he watched as Sims-him went over to Sims-Skye, and they started talking, wildly gesticulating all the time. It was kinda ridiculous, but he liked it, so he clicked again and chose another option. This time Sims-Skye angrily stormed away. It was funny, so he kept going on, trying out option after option, noticing how Sims-Skye's behavior changed with time. It amazed him, absorbing him into the world of the game so much that he didn't even realize Skye had returned until she put her hand on his shoulder.
"Whatcha up to, Robot?"
Grant was startled by her question, and answered without thinking.
"I'm flirting with you,"
Hearing this, first the corner ofher mouth twitched, then she doubled over laughing. (Good; at least she didn't seem to be mad at him.)
"Great job," she patted his shoulder, while wiped her eyes with her other hand. "Tell me when we have kids, okay?" And with that she turned around to leave.
It took her words a moment to sink in, but when they did, he called after her.
"You can have kids in the game? How?"
Skye stopped in her tracks, her shoulders trembled a little – as if she was chuckling to herself –, then turned back, pulled up a chair, sat down next to him and stretched her fingers.
"Now, listen closely, young padawan, because I'll only say this once. First of all, you'll need a house…"
And this is the story how Grant Ward, super spy and former HYDRA sleeper, played Sims with Skye through the whole night, becoming completely addicted to the silly game.
