He chuckled and didn't bother to tell her it was mostly sleeping that caterpillars did in cocoons, though that was only from an outsider's view. Or that seeing the world from a spiders view while very interesting was also very jarring perspective wise. He hadn't tried a shark though, there had never really been a need for it. It might be interesting. He made note to try it some time.

He followed Shelby across the street and down the block. He honestly didn't mind the walk, having long since gotten used to walking for long periods of time. When she paid for his ticket he was about to thank her again for paying for this. However he was interrupted by the cashier and was happily surprised by the badge he received for Ace. He actually laughed a little and nodded, "Thank you, I'll be sure to make sure he behaves himself."

He looked over at the hawk at his shoulder and showed him the badge. "Hey Ace, look what you got. Aren't you a special bird. You wanna hold on to it?"he cooed like he would with a normal pet. Ace squawked in response and Alex nodded with a barely contained laugh, "You're right, I probably should hold on to it." He put the badge in his pocket, along with the ticket in case anybody bothered them.

He grinned at Shelby's comment at not getting a cool badge. "Thanks again for paying. You know that's never happened to me. I've always had to leave 'em outside. I'm starting to think you're my good luck charm or something."he chuckled. This day was turning out to be one his best ones and he wondered how long it would last.

Her cheeks flushed a little darker and she fidgeted. "Eh... don't mention it. Money's not really a big thing, ya know?"

... Was that an appropriate thing to say to a homeless kid? Ohshit. "To me that is. I don't really place value in it. I... Iamgoingtoshutupnow."

She didn't reply to his comment about being a good luck charm. Mostly because anything she would have come up with would have come across snarky and cynical. She hardly believed in luck, and certainly didn't have a very good rap sheet with it in any case.

"But really, no biggie. I'm just happy you're enjoying yourself." Stuffing her hands into her pockets so she would stop fiddling with her bag strap, she turned and started to shuffle down the hallway.

"Besides, shouldn't you wait until after you see what kind of horrid art showcase i'm dragging you through to consider which side of the coin you got?"

That blush just kept growing didn't it. It was pretty cute to be honest and he couldn't help but chuckle at the words that followed.

"Eh... don't mention it. Money's not really a big thing, ya know?...To me that is. I don't really place value in it. I... Iamgoingtoshutupnow."

"I'm not offended."he assured. He actually kind of agreed that money didn't matter that much. That is if you knew how to get along without. Hunting and the like covered a good portion of living but if you needed clothes or medical supplies, you needed other human beings to give it to you. And that costs money. Generally speaking of course, circumstances certainly changed that.

He followed once she began walking down the hall, gathering a few odd looks for the hawk still perched on his backpack.

"Besides, shouldn't you wait until after you see what kind of horrid art showcase I'm dragging you through to consider which side of the coin you got?"

"Aw, it can't be that bad, right? I doubt its anything awful."he said with a shrug. The kid really didn't know what he was getting himself into.

The grin she threw at him over her shoulder could have been described as nefarious. Turning at a sign with a large arrow pointing toward the modern art exhibit, which took them down a short ramp into a longer hallway, she tugged out a pad of paper and a slim voice recorder.

The very first display they came across was a plain white piano sitting in the middle of an empty room. Everything from the legs to the keys had been painted pristine white. The only color came from a deep crimson red splashed upon the keys, which had dribbled down the front of the instrument and onto the bench. There were no words, no explanation of what it was supposed to mean, just the artists name in plain black letters on a small plaque atop the piano.

"Well this is interesting at least." She commented, bending down a little to give the ivory keys a skeptical once-over. Then, clicking her recorder on, she took a little breath in and started.

"Artist Jean Pastolli. Piece is untitled. Subject is piano supposedly covered in blood. Hmm.. Bloody keys. Maybe it's meant to be a metaphor for all of the work musicians put into their music? Blood, sweat, and tears and all that jazz." She paused, jotting something down in her notebook and glanced at Alex. "What do you think Alex?"

Alex immediately found himself confused by the single solitary piece in the center of the room. Weren't art places supposed to be overflowing with paintings and sculptures. He walked around the piano, trying to find something that stuck out at him. Ace shifted to get a good look at it too, wondering what could bewilder his creator so much.

The only thing that seemed to matter was the red on the keys. Which Shelby commented to look like blood. A metaphor for hard work huh...

"What do you think Alex?"

By this point Alex had leaned forward to get a good look at the "blood". "Huh? Oh, well, I can tell you one thing, this isn't blood it's paint."he pointed out, "I guess metaphorical blood. But aside from that, it's kind of...over dramatic, I guess? I dunno, if it's supposed to be a metaphor for blood, sweat, and tears then...where's the blood, sweat, and tears? Where's the effort?"

She blinked and chuckled. Of course it wasn't real blood! Only the crazy artists did that.

"A good point. It could also be commentary on the phrase "blood, sweat, and tears." She had been about to argue her point to him, but at the same time what he had said was being carefully poked and dissected in her brain.

"Perhaps the unspoken voice behind it isn't trying to pay homage to all of the work that goes into music, but rather a pointed jab at what some people call music. Like... " She floundered for a moment, trying to recall some kind of song that was unfairly popular these days. "Like Dustin Gleaver."

Moving around the piece to stand at his side, Shelby pointed at the bloody bench with her pencil. "A mockery of all the hard work that used to go into music, now paraded around by shirtless, scantily clad men and women who can't really sing when you take away the auto tune."

Clicking her recorder off, she smiled at him. "See? I knew you'd do fine here." Turning on her heel, she moved off down the hall toward the next item.

"I'll bet there will be more in the next room. It's not normal for one piece to take up a whole area, but some artists can be picky about where they place their stuff."

He listened to her talk into the recorder, apparently inspired by his confusion. Dustin Gleaver? Who in the wide world was that guy? Perhaps if he heard the music he'd know but otherwise he was at a loss. He hadn't kept up with anything popular. He should probably get into that, just so he could communicate with people on that level.

"See? I knew you'd do fine here."

"Thanks, I guess..." He supposed confused questions helped aide in the thinking process. Couldn't be helped. And then they were moving on to the next room, this one more filled as Shelby had promised.

The walls were occupied by four different artists with various takes on modern abstraction, some of the paintings more sculptural than actually paintings. And at the center was a large sculpture, collaborated by the four artists on the walls.

"Now this is interesting."Alex chuckled, checking out the sculpture in the center first.

She let him take the lead as she turned to a painting at her side and took a few quick audio notes about it. His comment drew her attention back to him, though. Casually, she wandered to his side.

"Mm." The sculpture he was talking about was pretty interesting, if she did say so herself. Not her usual cup of tea, mind you, but still thought provoking. She took a peek at the title of the sculpture and hummed to herself. "A collab, huh?"

The piece itself was a giant spiral of different minds all melded into one body. She could make out a few distinct things, one being a foxes head, and another being what looked like a gas mask. All in all there were a few different images that made up the entirety of the statue. Though she wouldn't know where to begin when it came to differentiating between them.

"eh... I don't tend to like art like this. Too.... chaotic."

"Eh... I don't tend to like art like this. Too.... chaotic."

He shrugged, once again leaning in close to take in all the detail. It looked like a spiral of ideas thrown together but so did a lot of things unless given a closer look. "I dunno it kinda reminds me of ya know..."he said tapping his head.

The chaos of images that he sometimes got from multiple constructs were at first dizzying and he hadn't liked it all when he first tried it. But over time sorting through the information became second nature to him. It wasn't just images either, sounds, smells, sensations of all sorts could come in a swirling mess. Sorting it all together into something comprehensive was worthwhile.

Sort of like the sculpture. At the bottom, a chaotic mess of information, at the top a fully realized idea. He hadn't thought he'd find something he liked so soon. But here it was.

Kinda reminds me of ya... Wh-what did that mean?

Oh. Wait... He was either talking about his brain being chaotic, or referencing his...whatever it was he did with his power. Either way she didn't really know what he meant full...

So, she chose to awkwardly ignore what he had said like she hadn't heard it and moved to stare pointedly at one of the other paintings. It was colorful. Vibrant hues of orange, red, and a smudge of blue. She could pick out the shapes of leaves and branches. Swirling patters that probably represented a breeze. Toward the middle of the canvas the brushstroke shifted from lazy and swoopy to shark and direct. If she squinted and turned her head slightly sideways she could just barely make out the image of what looked to be a fox.

While chaotic, she liked this one. She was ever the hypocrite. But, this one was full of color and if there was one thing that could sway her opinion it was color.

Switching her recorder on, she documented the name and tile and chewed on her lip. "... The colors of autumn. Reminds me of home. Bright and stylistic. Really catches my eye."

Switching it back off, she turned to plot the next course of action.

He shrugged when she ignored him. Whatever, his powers were internal to him and kind of hard to describe to strangers. Even if he had gotten used to doing so after a while. Most folks wouldn't know all the details that went into it. Hell sometimes he didn't understand it fully and it was his dang power.

He moved on from the sculpture to take a look at the paintings. Or rather painting like sculptures that broken from the barriers of the frames. It was interesting to say the least. A 3D chaotic swirl of colors. Interesting but didn't do anything for him beyond catching his eye, so he moved on.

Eventually he found himself by Shelby again. "So where to now?"he asked, as there were two doors they could take.

Glancing at him, she tucked her recorder back into er pocket and glanced at her watch. They hadn't been in the museum very long, but she had promised him food and she only needed a handful of pieces for her project.

"How about some grub? I could go for a bite right about now." Or even just a coffee. She hadn't met her caffeine and deliciousness quota for the day yet, but there was still time!

Waiting for his response, she headed forward toward the next room anyway. There were usually signs to point them in the direction of the cafeteria she wanted. It was on the second floor.

"I could go for a coffee if nothing else."

"How about some grub? I could go for a bite right about now."

Oh yeah, he had been promised food for this venture. He had forgotten all about that. "Yeah food sounds great." Though he wondered how much he could get away with ordering. If Shelby was a student that probably meant she didn't have much to spare. It wouldn't be kind to spend too much of her money.

He followed her to the next room, more abstract paintings, though on one wall of them looked like a spray painted mural. Again interesting. It looked like the artist really made the space they were given their own. Though he did feel sorry about the mural, it'd probably get painted over later.

Glancing over her shoulder, she spotted his attention on the wall and stopped momentarily. "You like?" A smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. "I've seen his work before. He paints something new every time. Doesn't like things lasting forever like other artists."

Glancing at the painting herself, she decided right there she didn't like it. The colours looked off to her. The texture of the wall, while it made a statement, wasn't her favorite thing. She preferred neat lines in most cases. Of course that didn't take away from the overall feeling of the painting. Art was supposed to be like that.

"Kind of awesome really. Somethings just aren't meant to last forever. We have to enjoy them while we can, before they're gone."

He was probably one of her favorite local professional artists, simply for that fact. A lot of people put too much value in their work and she left they lost the meaning behind of it because of that.

"Kind of awesome really. Somethings just aren't meant to last forever. We have to enjoy them while we can, before they're gone."

"Yeah, pretty cool."he said smiling. It reminded him of the swaths of spray paint that he would see on occasion on trains and city walls. But seeing something like that in a art gallery was something else. Yet it was treated the same, temporary and something to be washed away.

A paused moment of contemplation later he looked back at her. "So, how about that food?"he asked.