16135/Rack 'em and Smack 'em.

Rack 'em and Smack 'em.
Date of Scene:	21 March 2024
Location:	Rec Room - Xavier's School
Synopsis:	Remy and Tabby play pool and discuss the art of the con.
Cast of Characters:	Gambit, Boom-Boom

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Gambit has posed:
a Responsible teacher after giving an asignment like "Compare Quasimodo (A deformed Frenchman who seeks love and approval of a beautiful woman and kidnaps her), Erik (A deformed Frenchman who seeks love and approval of a beautiful woman and kidnaps her), and Prince Adam (A deformed Frenchman who seeks love and approval of a beautiful woman and kidnaps her). Explain in 500 words why one is considered a hero, one a villian, and one shifts from the first to the second." would be in his office diligently reading those writing assignments.

So Remy is in the Rec Room playing pool.

He casually drops the balls into an alternating order of solids and stripes, nodding to his opponent and grinning wickedly, "So jus' 'ow easy on yah do yah want me ta go chere?"

Boom-Boom has posed:
Old jeans, a red hoodie with XAVIER'S in faded yellow. Clunky workboots. Yellow tinted wayfarer glasses. Blonde hair pinned up in a bun via screwdrivers. Tabitha Smith's outfit slightly grease stained from teaching Autoshop. And as it's the sort of class where you don't have homework. It and being built as she is, it makes her the best teacher ever.

"No promises, but just remember I'm not Cyclops. You might actually win something." she reassures playfully while chalking her cue, leaving the tip covered in blue. "If we were bowling, that might be a different matter." she adds a little more evilly.

Gambit has posed:
Remy LeBeau chuckles a little bit, shaking his head slightly and placing the triangle away before gesturing for Tabby to break. Of course Remy's French class is consistently one of the more popular ones for the female students, likely for a very similar reason. "Pool migh' not be Fearless' game, true, but 'tween yah, me an' de gossip post as dey say, de man got a poker face like a marble statue." Though to be fair, Remy has the advantage in just about any fame that requires putting something into motion. Control over kinetic energy is literally his power.

Boom-Boom has posed:
Is Tabby takinbg the game seriously, or just goofing around at the moment? It's hard to tell from just the break as she moves around, lines up her shot with the cue ball.

"I don't think that's how it works Remy. Unless you can make a blast go off in the direction you want when you've already set it to blow." she asks and grins as the crack of pool balls is heard and they scatter pretty wildly.

"Now charged ionized particles controlled with a hint of telekinesis. That's how you put spin on a shot." she adds playfully.

Gambit has posed:
Remy LeBeau grins slightly, leaning back agienst the wall and looking amused. And if he happens to be standing behind the blonde when she leans over to take her shot? Pure coincidence. Honest. "De explosions is secondary. Almos' a side effect really." He says with a shrug, "A Very useful side effec', an' Beast explain it better... wit' allot bigger words, but it really boil down ta energy an' motion. It like a sixth sense almos'. Ah c'n feel when t'ings are moving. It why Logan can't sneak up on me like he do everyone else."

Boom-Boom has posed:
The balls come to a stop and Tabby stands up slowly to let Remy have his turn. Maybe a little more deliberately. An amused smirk staying on Tabby's lips. "The explosion is just the icing on the cake, and the pay off." she agrees on that part of it.

"It's charging the blast. The energy firing along all those nerves. When you can finesse it just how you like it. The direction it goes off in, how long you leave it cooking a timer. How loud, how hard, how hot it gets. Tabby's description if it from her point of view is deliberate.

Circling around to stand in front of the Cajun she leans against the side of the table in his field of view. "Still question is, when you have a blast primed, Can you change it's direction mid flight. And I don't just mean aiming a card to curve around something. I mean can it one eighty?" she asks curiously.

Gambit has posed:
Remy LeBeau considers her question as he lines up his own shot. "Dat one of de reason I like ta use cards ovah somet'ing like nails. Used ta use dese little metal spikes dat worked a treat, but dey pretty much fly like an arrow. Cards, it's all in de wrist. Dat said once dey leave mah fingers dey pretty well commited, but before dat Ah c'n put enough English on dem ta make sure Ah 'it whatever Ah intend ta 'it. An' being able ta sense de motion? Mean Ah c'n aim foh where somet'ing will be, not just where it be right now. Nes pa?" He pots the ball and moves onto the next. "But Ah do know dat feeling. Know it well. Once charged a Buick when Ah was a kid. Felt like Ah was drunk.

Boom-Boom has posed:
"See I get that. I had to learn to throw curve balls. Put some spin on my plasma spheres. How to bowl on uneven terrain! Good for hustling in a bowling alley. You should have seen me playing dodgeball here as a kid. While you weren't faking your own death." Tabby gives her own playful tease amidst her explanation.

"Cards can also be carries more easily in bulk. Couple bucks in a gas station and you got a nigh limitless supply of ammo that no one can really call illegal." she adds acknowledging the practicality. "Gambit's a chess term though. We've all heard Hank drone on when he gets his nerd on." she adds and keeps herself in Remy's line of sight when he goes for his next shot.

"And oh god that rush. The fire burns and it feels like a god damn adrenaline rush. Like skydive out the blackbird without a chute rush and landing in a lady's bed beside her!" More commonality between the street rats turned educators.

Gambit has posed:
Remy LeBeau nods slightly, "It defiantly a term used in chess, Oui. Firs' 'eard it from mah pappa. Dare was a man who liked 'is chess. But Ah always took it ta mean more like a calculated risk. Somet'ing dat may or may not go mah way, but wort' de risk trying. Goin' all in on a busted flush? Dat's a Gambit. Hustlin' some guy twice yah size? Dat's a gambit. Approaching dat pretty girl wearing an engagement ring at de bar? Dat's a Gambit." he grins a bit and pockets two more balls in quick sucession, but then just barely taps the cue ball with his third shot, passing the table back to the woman. No point in running a table in a friendly game.

Boom-Boom has posed:
Friendly game being there's no stakes. They can save that when they put a hustle on. "Gambits is like, a plan with foreseeable outcomes. And those outcomes are the bet. But sometimes a seeming negative can be turned around to your benefit." she gives her version.

"Like say, playing a mark to get them over confident enough to raise the stakes. They could just be humble and say nah. But if you spot they have an ego, you can work it sometimes." she explains. "Most of what you described is just a Gamble. It's how you do the things that are the Gambits." she adds as she takes her shot. Sure one sinks, but the next one curves just a little shy of sinking and bounces off the side.

Gambit has posed:
Remy LeBeau nods slightly, grinning as he lines up his own shot, "Dat's true, dat's true. But den Gambler doesn' sound as good on a business card, does it?" He asks with a wicked grin as he makes a clean bank shot to pocket his third ball but ends up leaving himself no clean shot after. He bounces the ball lightly to the other side of the table to force Tabby to shoot all the way down to make another shot and adds "Gambits are subtle. Ah like subtle. Og course with a name like Boom Boom we bot' know yah opinion of subtlty.

Boom-Boom has posed:
Tabby's shot isn't going to be great either. More an attempt to position better shots for herself later. Best she can do is make sure it's legal.

"You kinda need to be that guy from the song. "Know went to hold 'em, know when to fold em!" she half singsas she steps back to let Remy go again.

"Boom-Boom was what I got called as a kid even before I was a mutant. I know what it sounds like to most folks." That gets Tabby smirking. "And I am more than fine letting them think what they want about me when I am planting the idea in their heads. All part of the con!"

Gambit has posed:
Remy LeBeau grins "Always makes t'ings easier when dey got de wrong idea from de start. Puts dem on de back foot non? Better still if yah let dem get de /right/ idea from de start den convince dem ot'erwise. People move 'eaven an' Eart' ta not go back to a t'ought dey previously abandoned." he smirks a bit, "Dat's why Ah try nevah ta form judgements of people too quickly, even when dey trying ta distract me wit' dare cleavage in a friendly game of pool." He says playfully.

Boom-Boom has posed:
"Right is which ever idea you want them thinking." Tabitha points out and chuckles.

There is a look down at her hoodie. "Nah, the cleavage comes out when I want it out. If I wanted to distract you like that, I'm the wrong Southern Gal, Hon. And she's still more interested in short hair Canadians at the moment." That Virginia Accent lets slip just a little.

Then shows a off how she'd do it with a snap of her fingers and a few crackles of little plasma poppers around her. "But we both know the game well enough. Readin' the players at the table takes a bit a time after all." she agrees. "Game recognize game."

Gambit has posed:
Remy LeBeau grins a little bit, "Reading de players /is/ de game." He says as an alarm goes off on his phone and he sighs slightly... then drops the remaining two stripes and the eight in quick succession. "Ah gotta get back ta de boat 'ouse. But feel free ta stop by yah evah wanna discuss more philosophy." He says with a grin.