Chapter 6: Kitty

Games Day was a quarterly event at Xaviers. It was originally conceived as a way to assist Storm's emotional control students in finding a hobby, but quickly turned into a school bonding event. Bobby had taken on organising them.

There were four rec rooms around the school, and all of those, plus the computer lab, had been set up with different activities. All the TVs were running different console games (some solo, some multi-player), and everyone was encouraged to use the pool tables too.

Gambit had only ever been to one Games Day before, and he ended up spending the whole day in the 'card and board games' room. Storm wasn't impressed when she found out:

"I am glad that you were able to bond with other people here, but you are supposed to be trying out new things, Remy," she had scolded him.

It was then with great reluctance that Gambit avoided the cards and board games rec room this time. Still, with a deck of cards springing between his hands, he headed to Bobby's social gaming room at the unreasonably early hour of 10am.

Upon his arrival, he found a couple of kids playing billiards, several kids in front of the TV playing some 3D shooter or another, and all the other kids sitting around on their phones.

"Well, this looks exciting," Gambit said dryly.

"Hey Remy," said Bobby with a teasing grin. "Glad you made it this time."

He shrugged. "Suppose it had to happen eventually. So, what's the deal?"

"Well, we're all playing a game called…" Bobby went on to explain the game, serving only to get an unimpressed look from Gambit.

"And that's fun?" he asked.

Bobby shrugged. "Well, I like it. I wouldn't be here recommending it if I wasn't."

Gambit eyed him with mock-suspicion. "You might if the company was paying you to recommend it. Just how much of a cut are you expecting to get from in-game purchases?"

Bobby laughed.

Gambit conceded to downloading the game, but immediately deleted it after trying it out. It just wasn't something he would ever get into. He played a game of billiards, watched the console gaming for a short while, and then headed to the next room.

The "Fad" room was being run by Kurt, who was in the midst of teaching some kids how to use a yoyo, and showing them various tricks. The pool table wasn't in use, but there were three kids playing a racing game on the TV. Gambit watched for a time, then joined the next race as the fourth player. After a race, Gambit decided to try out the yoyo for a bit, mostly just so he could assure Storm afterwards that he did try everything.

The next room was the "RPG" room. The console in there was running a fantasy game, while the pool table had been covered over for Morph's game of Dungeons and Dragons. There were eight kids at the table, a few of which Gambit suspected were participants in Morph's regular weekly games.

"Hey Remy, wanna join us?" Morph asked as soon as he noticed him.

"I might just watch to begin with," Gambit replied.

"Sure thing. Stay as long as you want," Morph replied.

Gambit leaned on the wall and watched and listened as they played. The veteran players would often talk in character, and help the new players figure out what all the numbers on the paper in front of them meant. Morph narrated the story, and would shapeshift into different characters for the players to interact with.

For a couple of the battles, Morph brought out a 3D map. It was only when he saw the well-painted plastic display that he remembered hearing that Morph had been using the school's 3D printer to create terrain for his D&D games. There were also a number of miniatures used to represent the players' characters, and the various monsters they were fighting.

After awhile, Gambit departed. As a social game, he knew it wasn't the kind of hobby Storm expected him to adopt. It was fun enough to watch, and he suspected that it was more fun to play (especially once you knew the basics), but it wasn't something he was prepared to spend hours doing right now. And he had heard that Morph's regular games always went for hours on end.

With all the rec rooms done (aside from the one for card and board games, which Gambit regretfully skipped), he headed down to the computer lab. There were plenty of people in there, though Gambit suspected that half of them weren't actually participating in Games Day activities.

"Hey Remy," Kitty greeted him. "Come to join the party?"

"Yeah. Pete thought I might find the house building aspect of The Sims interesting." Gambit shrugged. "So here I am."

"Ok cool," Kitty said, and gestured to a nearby computer. "This one's all ready to go. We're running The Sims 3. They have Sims 4 out, but EA have gotten confused and think they're running an MMORPG: it's a solo game, but they're making you be online to play it. Wankers."

Gambit chuckled as he sat down at the indicated computer.

"Actually, they changed the Sims 3 so you have to be online for that too, but if you have the disc versions from before — well, anyway, it's messy and it's not really that important right now," Kitty said, shaking her head. "Okay, so, um, I've already selected a neighbourhood for you to start in. The tutorial is on, so you can let it lead you through the game, or we can jump straight into house building."

"I guess I'll use the tutorial."

"Alright, cool. Gimme a yell if you need any help."

"Will do. Hey, been meaning to ask," Gambit said with a sly smile. "How'd your date go?"

"It went great. And you already know that. You spoke to Pete," Kitty replied. Her tone was accusing, but her face was delighted.

"I just wanted to hear it from you too."

"Of course you did," Kitty said, and gestured to the computer. "Have fun."

Gambit chuckled as Kitty headed off, and turned his attention to the game. He selected a premade family and idly watched them interact for a few minutes. Then he waved his hand for Kitty's attention.

"Yeah, Remy?" she asked.

Gambit pointed to the screen where a couple of the sims were talking. "That sounds an awful lot like the nonsense language I've heard in the Danger Room."

Kitty grinned wickedly at him. "Well, one of the reasons why they invented Simlish—"

"Simlish?"

"—was because they thought conversations in English would be too repetitive. Well, that plus then they'd have to translate them into other languages and that would get expensive. So yeah, when I was programming bystander sims in the Danger Room, I set them to speak Simlish," Kitty said delightedly. "They can also speak English, but that does get repetitive."

Gambit shook his head. "And there I was thinking that the realism in the Danger Room was being spoilt by the gibberish. I suppose all the nonsense on the shop fronts and stuff is Simlish too."

"Yep. There's a lot of Sims stuff that's ended up in the Danger Room. In fact, I'm working on a suburbia program at the moment (it's meant to be a backdrop for future battle sims and stuff) and it's basically Sims 3," Kitty said, and her eyes twinkled with mischief as Gambit laughed. "Hey, may as well make it fun for me." She gestured to the screen. "You should keep playing. Never know what other easter eggs you might find."

The moment Gambit entered the staff rec room, he heard Kitty say especially loudly:

"But Rogue, why are you throwing a surprise birthday party for Remy? He'll probably blow something up when we yell 'surprise'."

"And that's exactly why he'll never suspect it," Rogue replied just as loudly.

Gambit smirked and swaggered over. "Hello ladies."

"Oh hi Remy, didn't see you there," Rogue said, batting her eyes at him.

"Uh huh," he replied dryly. "I never should've told you when my birthday is."

"You did?" Rogue asked mock-innocently. "I must have forgotten."

"You're as subtle as a sledgehammer, ma chere."

She grinned up at him. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"So Remy," Kitty cut in then. "Playing more Sims tonight?"

Gambit gave her a long look. "I can't believe you got me addicted to that game."

Kitty giggled.

"Yeah, I am," he went on. "I'm adding a pool house to my lot tonight. And Illyana wants me to build her an exclusive lounge, so I'm working on that."

"Ooh, watch out for her. She'll be having you build a whole neighbourhood," Kitty said teasingly, and at that moment, an idea popped into her head.

"Oh, I don't doubt it," Gambit said, and, having noticed her change of expression, asked: "Have a thought?"

"Yeah, I just might have you building a whole neighbourhood," Kitty said with an ironic smile. "That suburbia program I said I'm working on? How'd you like to give me a hand?"

Gambit shrugged. "Yeah, sure, why not? May as well put all this Sims stuff to good use, huh?"

"How's it going as a potential hobby?" Rogue asked.

Gambit pulled a face. "Ehh, I don't know. Maybe. Could just as easily turn out to be a passing fad."

"Doesn't speak to the soul?"

"I think it speaks to the part of me that misses woohoo," Gambit replied, giving Kitty a sly wink.

Not to mention the kleptomaniac sim he liked to play, who had a job as a master thief and was always stealing something from other lots.

A couple of days later found Gambit and Kitty in the control room of the Danger Room.

"And that," Kitty said as she sat back in her chair, "is the basics on how to program Danger Room sims."

"Those are the basics?" Gambit asked. "I'd hate to think what the advanced course is like." He grinned at her. "Probably end up blowing stuff up in frustration."

"Heh, yeah, know that feeling, Well, not literally, but I can relate to the sentiment anyway," Kitty replied, feeling a little awkward at Gambit's self-depreciating joke. "It is a lot to take in. I've been doing this for years now and I'm still learning new stuff." She smiled at him. "Thanks for this, by the way. Now I can concentrate on the complex part of the coding. There's only so much time available to me during the week that I can program stuff in, and it doesn't allow much leeway for big new projects like this."

"And as someone who's always up all night, I don't even have to prebook time to use it," Gambit said with a grin. "Even if this doesn't turn out to be the magical hobby Stormy wants me to get, at least I'll be doing something productive."

He would really rather spend that time out stealing. He missed stealing.

"Hey," Gambit said as a thought occurred to him. "Are burglars going to be the same as they are in The Sims? Where they can fit an entire piano in a tiny little bag."

Kitty giggled. "Well, I wasn't really planning on it. But it might make for a fun little easter egg."

"Oooh and alien abductions?" Gambit asked gleefully. "And will the men come back alien pregnant?"

"Hmm, tempting," Kitty said, grinning back at him. "But it's a backdrop, not a long term thing. I don't think we would run the program long enough for us to see that kind of result from alien abductions."

"Pity. Might be kinda fun if we could though," Gambit mused as he leaned back in his chair. "Like there's this ongoing story going on in the background. Every time we run it we get new developments. But that would probably make the coding way more complex than you want to deal with. And probably be a memory hog too." Gambit paused briefly, then added: "Just like The Sims."

"Yeah, probably," Kitty said thoughtfully. "Still, it's kinda a cool idea. Plus it would keep the program from becoming stagnant. I mean, yeah, it's supposed to be a backdrop, but in reality there are going to be civilians around, and they're going to be real people, not NPCs with predictable reactions to stuff. I don't know, I'll think about it." She grinned at him. "Because it probably would be a pain to program and a memory hog."

Gambit checked his chin in the mirror and, satisfied with his shave, washed his hands. Today he was 19. It had been almost a full year since he'd lost control over his powers. He hated that he'd been living like this for a year. And he hated the fact that there was no way the anniversary could pass him by without him realising it. It was simply too close to his birthday, an event his new friends were insistent on celebrating.

With a sigh he set about getting dressed into regular clothes. Usually he just wore the school tracksuit, since replacing that was less of a headache. He only wore regular clothes when he left the grounds, or on special occasions, like his "surprise" party.

He was not long finished dressing when there was a knock on the door.

"Come in," he said, and looked up as the door opened. "Oh, hey Kitty. I thought for sure that Rogue would be the one to escort me to my unsurprise birthday party."

Kitty giggled. "I think that may have been her original plan, but there's always something cropping up last minute." She cleared her throat. "Oh, sorry, I meant: Hey Remy, a bunch of us have decided to watch a movie. Care to join us?"

Gambit put on a thoughtful look. "Hmm, I don't know. It's not some wedding movie is it?"

"Nope, you're safe."

"It's not murdery either, is it? I'm really not in the mood to see, y'know, people being blown apart and having their entrails splattered on the walls." Even as he said the words he regretted them. He could feel his underwear charging up.

"Nothing murdery either," Kitty replied with a nod. "So, what I'm getting from this conversation is that a Game of Thrones marathon is out."

"Definitely out," Gambit said as he stood and mentally fought to keep hold of the charge. If he could just change the subject and keep Kitty talking… "So, shall we go?"

"Sure thing," Kitty said, and held the door out for him.

"So, having much time for ballet practice lately?" he asked, knowing she liked to return to her childhood love whenever she could.

"I've been making time for it," Kitty said with determination in her voice. "I have exams coming up, and if I over study I will flunk."

"Previous experience?"

"Oh yeah. Happens every time," she said, shaking her head in disgust. "I get anxious about exams, which drives me to study all the time nonstop, and then when the time for the exam actually comes, everything goes out of my head. It's as irritating as hell."

"Well, ballet practice sounds like a good way to make sure you don't over study then," Gambit said.

"Helps my concentration too," Kitty said and gave him a playful nudge. "Maybe you should join me sometime."

"Stormy doesn't recommend sports as a hobby. For the same reason I've only done parkour with Kurt around the school once."

"True, but I could still teach you the basics. That wouldn't be any more of a workout than you usually do outside of the Danger Room."

"Hmm," Gambit pondered. "I will seriously consider it. Although, I don't know that ballet would be my first choice of dance."

"Oh? And what would be?"

"The rumba or the Argentine Tango."

"What? No Waltz?"

"I already know how to do that," he said, as his anxiety finally died down enough for him to remove the charge in his underwear.

Kitty glanced at him. "Of course you do."

"You can admit it. You're finding me very attractive right now," Gambit said merrily. "Don't worry, I won't tell Pete."

"You are so full of it."

"I know." He leaned in towards her. "I can teach Pete how to Waltz if you want."

"What good would that do me? I don't know how to Waltz."

"Then I shall have to teach you both!"

Kitty laughed. "I'll think about it."

They soon arrived at the rec room door.

"Oh it looks like they've got the lights turned off already," Kitty said loudly. "I hope they haven't started the movie without us."

Gambit snorted with laughter. Kitty grinned at him as she opened the door, and turned on the lights.

"Surprise!" everyone inside shouted.

Gambit pressed his hands to his chest in mock-surprise.

"Gasp!" he said melodramatically in an overly loud voice. "A surprise party? For me? I never, ever would've guessed this was going to happen. It's not like you guys have been dropping loud and obnoxious hints for the past two weeks."

"Nope," Rogue said with a cheesy grin. "Not us."

Balloons and plates of party food were all over the place, but best of all a poker table had been set up. Morph was already sitting there, wearing a 'poker dealer' form: white shirt, black vest, and green visor.

"Yes," Gambit said the moment he spotted the table, and sat himself down. "Now this is what I call a birthday present."

"That's what I thought too," Logan said, sitting down as well.

"Just so you know, I did not arrange this so you could avoid the rest of the party, Swamp Rat," Rogue said, giving him a long, dire look.

"See you say that," Gambit replied teasingly. "But we all know you're planning on spending the party making out with Bobby in the corner."

Rogue pulled a face at him, then looked at Morph. "Morph, make sure he takes breaks."

Morph gave her a salute. "Yes ma'am."

Gambit grinned at her. The table filled up, and Morph dealt the cards. Gambit was so sure that poker could've been his hobby, except that Storm insisted it needed to be a solo activity. Whatever hobby he adopted to help him learn emotional control, it needed to be something he could do at a moment's notice, without having to rely on other people being available.

After a few founds, Morph insisted everyone take a break (himself included). So they got up (Gambit reluctantly), and mingled for awhile before Morph was willing to return. After a few more rounds, Rogue showed up with a birthday cake.

Gambit smiled despite himself while they all sang Happy Birthday to him. He leaned over to blow out the candles, and it looked as though he was going to blow out all 19 in the one breath. Unfortunately, every single one of them relit. Gambit grunted, a little disappointed, and tried again. Same thing happened. He went to try a third time, when he felt Rogue's hand on his shoulder, halting him.

"Bobby," Rogue said, giving her boyfriend a suspicious look. "Are these those trick candles of yours? The ones that relight themselves?"

Bobby grinned at her. "Maybe."

Gambit laughed. "Good one."

He was relieved that Rogue figured it out before he started to get irritated.

A week later Gambit woke at 1 in the afternoon and instantly realised that this was the day. It should have been his 1st wedding anniversary, but instead it was the anniversary of the single worst day in his entire life.

He immediately blew up three shallow holes in the wall across from his bed, the wall he shared with Rogue. He groaned. It was going to be one of those days.

He got up and dressed, and started going about his business for the day, though he made a concerted effort to avoid populated areas. He couldn't shake the significance of the day, nor could he stop himself from remembering things that he didn't want to remember, and so let off small explosions almost everywhere he went.

He was going to be up for a lot of repair work later.

Eventually, Gambit tired of it, and headed outside to attempt Storm's meditative exercises again. It didn't really help to get his mind off things, but at least he lost the anxiety that he might hurt anyone. He would've liked to have gone to the Danger Room, but it was usually in use at this time.

He stayed out for hours, and only returned inside when hunger got the better of him. He was pleased to find that the breakfast nook was empty when he arrived. Because he wanted the distraction, he put far more time and effort into cooking his meal than he actually needed to, and snacked in the meantime to take the edge off his hunger.

Still, it was worth the effort: by the time he'd finished, he'd not only enjoyed a tasty meal, but he was feeling much more relaxed and no longer anxious. He decided to go to the rec room and see if anyone was there.

Rogue, Kitty, and Jubilee were there when he arrived, and it was just his luck that they were watching some wedding movie. The three girls instantly became aware of his presence when he blew holes in the TV.

"Oh merde," Gambit exclaimed.

A few more small explosions went off in the walls before he shut his eyes, and then his clothes started lighting up.

"Rogue?" Jubilee asked.

"This one's bad. Anyone know where Kurt is?" Rogue replied. "We need to get him to the Danger Room, now."

"That'll take too long," Kitty said, determinedly approaching Gambit. "I'll take care of this."

Kitty grabbed Gambit's bare hands, making sure that none of her clothing touched him. "Keep your eyes closed. I'm going to phase us."

She gave him no chance to reply, and phased them both through the floor. It was a long way down, and to her horror, she found the charge in Gambit's clothes growing bigger and brighter, and becoming more intense. She sped up their movement as much as she could.

Finally, they arrived in the basement level. Kitty continued to keep them in phase until they reached the Danger Room, and then she let him go and hurried out again, lest she get caught in the explosion.

Kitty took a few moments to get her breath back, then pulled across the privacy screen and picked up a fresh set of clothes from the uniform room. After that, she went into the control room. She shut the viewing window to give Gambit some privacy, and only then did she address him via the speakers.

"Hey Remy, you okay?" she asked.

"No," he replied, and proceeded to inform her in colourful language (across two tongues) exactly what kind of a day he was having.

"Don't hold back," Kitty said dryly when when he finally stopped to take a breath. "Tell us how you really feel."

Gambit managed a short laugh.

"Sorry about the TV," he said. "And for spoiling your movie."

"It's okay. We've all been there," Kitty assured him. "Sometimes I wonder why we're not broke, with all the stuff we end up destroying around here."

"Heh, yeah."

Kitty was silent for a moment, then said: "Remy? If you don't mind my asking, what set you off? I mean, I know you've been having a bad day of it today but—"

"I really don't want to discuss it."

"Okay. I just… after last week when you said you weren't in the mood for wedding movies, and today we were watching a wedding movie, and I just… Just want to know if that was coincidence or causation, I guess," Kitty said awkwardly. "But, if you don't want to discuss it, that's okay. I get that."

There was a long silence.

"Aw chere, don't go spreading that idea around," he said finally. "Folks might start thinking I have commitment issues or something."

Kitty laughed at his apparent joke, but she couldn't help having a horrible feeling that there was some kind of murder wedding in his past. And with his power control being what it was, the visual was truly terrible indeed.