Even Remy was a bit surprised.

"Now, I know I didn' put that much energy into that card, mon amie," he said, looking at the girls. "What did you add to the mix to create such a lovely explosion, cherie?"

"Just a little something." Crystal smirked faintly. "I had wondered if those cards did more than fly and hide up your sleeves."

"The cards themselves, no, cherie," Remy said grinning. "Just playin' cards. There's a little more t' Gambit than does first appear, though." He winked at her flirtatiously, making the children chitter and giggle.

"I'm sure." Crystal kept her voice dry, though she had an idea of what he did. Somehow his mutation worked like hers, in the explosions anyway, except he attached the energy to playing cards, rather than it taking a physical manifestation. "Do it again."

Remy raised an eyebrow but drew another card, holding it between two fingers and adjusting the energy until the card crackled with pink sparks. Then he flicked it off across the yard, away from the kids.

Crystal actually grinned as she flicked another small crystal at it. This explosion was a bit bigger and showier, and the kids all cheered at that.

Well, at least she was keeping the kids entertained.

Remy grinned easily and kept flicking cards, keeping the kids happy with the makeshift fireworks.

Paige just sat back and watched, letting them play.

Crystal kept up on her end, making sure the cards were a safe distance away before flicking crystals at them. This was kind of fun, actually, and good target practice. She found herself grinning after a minute.

All of the kids were laughing and cheering at the display, and Paige just kept an eye on them all. When a stray card flew at her, however, she yelped in surprise and slammed a hand down on the granite bench, absorbing the molecular structure of the stone and reworking the structure of her skin to match just in time for the card to crackle against her arm like a firecracker.

Erik and Charles had just been watching for the moment, but when Charles saw what happened with Paige, he was quick to interfere.

"Alright, that's enough," he said, walking over to them, giving Remy a bit of a Look.

Crystal, meanwhile, had stopped as soon as she heard Paige and was next to her, checking her over quickly. "You alright?" she asked quietly.

"Fine," Paige said, letting go of the bench. Her skin went back to normal. "No damage."

"Apologies, cherie," Remy said. "Didn' mean t' hit you. Are you hurt?"

"I'm alright," Paige replied. "Really. No harm done. Granite's tough."

"Fortunately," Charles said. "Although, I have to admit, that's quite impressive."

Crystal relaxed a bit once she knew Paige was fine, giving her a bit of room. Charles looked like he wanted to Talk again, and she was not ready for that yet. The last Talk had left her rattled enough.

Paige blushed a little.

"Really, it's not all that special," she said.

"On the contrary, I know few people who can do anything like that," Charles said with a kind smile. "Darwin can do something similar, but not quite the same. You seem quite comfortable with your mutation."

"I've had it for a while," Paige admitted. "And it's not really invasive like others are."

"Invasive?" Charles raised an eyebrow at her. "Do explain, please, I fear I'm a bit confused at your wording."

"Invasive might not be the best word," Paige said. "Maybe closer to 'overt' or 'blatant'? Mutations that aren't easily hidden or controlled, the ones that just seem to invade and take over the person's life when they become active."

"Ah." Charles nodded. "I see. Your mutation does seem quite useful in some circumstances." He cracked a grin. "Especially when you have a card-thrower around who's not watching his aim."

"Sometimes it's helpful," Paige said, nodding. She looked at him. "I didn't mean to keep it a secret for so long, it just... never came up."

"No, no, that's quite alright," Charles said with a smile. "I never would have pushed you into telling us. Although I am curious, can you only do that with stones?"

"Any solid material," Paige said. "Soft solids are a bit weird, and I tend to avoid transparent solids, but rigid solids are fine."

"Fascinating." Charles grinned.

"Charles, dear," Erik said, sounding amused. "No more questions for now. Besides, I think someone's TV show is about to start." He only had to raise his voice a bit for there to be a mad dash to the den to watch My Little Pony. Crystal snorted at them all.

Paige grinned a bit at the stampede of children and let them all get past to go watch the cartoon.

"We can discuss it later, if you want," she offered to Charles.

"Of course." Charles smiled and let Erik tug him inside. "Remy, stay out of trouble!" He shot the girls one last smile before Erik snorted and carted him off to go let the kids form a snuggle pile around their papa.

Paige sat back down on the bench with a sigh. That had been more excitement than she'd anticipated.