”Mmhm.” Quin said when her partner commented on how large the crowd was. It made surveillance difficult. What was even worse was that most of the attention was centered around an exhibit on…roaches.

Ew. Roaches. Quin made a face that suggested that the last thing she wanted to do was go and look at the exhibit that Ashton was pointing out. How that was even considered art was beyond the redhead, but she’d already chalked it up to her Midwestern, and therefore uncultured, upbringing and moved on with her life. Ashton, on the other hand, seemed to think something of value could be gleaned from the experience. Oh, and lovely, the roach was holding a tea cup. Wasn’t it just delightful?

No. No, it really wasn’t. Not at all.

”Oh god.” she said, ”Please don’t ruin tea for me. I won’t have anything to drink.” she said, but then shrugged her shoulders. ”But lead the way, partner of mine. We might as well join the freak show. Chances are, we won’t be able to get close enough to see anything anyway.”

>"Full Circle... I've never had the pleasure of stopping by."

"I'll have to stop by some time if only to see you and your delightful ward." Ghost smiled at him. He was smiling at her. Jude frowned. He was still trying to figure out if he should be offended or like the guy.

He decided to like him... but only a bit. His art knowledge seemed vast, at least on this particular artist. Maybe he read the same Wikipedia article that Jude had? It didn't sound word for word, but all the same information was there. More information than was in the pamphlet they handed out at the door for the starlets who wandered in and didn't know what they were in for.

"Human or mutant, does it really matter Mr. McCoy? The quality of the work shouldn't be diminished either way."

His Ghost could sometimes be so naive. "If he is human, would his work not seem more impressive?" Jude couldn't help but point this fact out. "Sometimes people sink mutant talent is like a cheating."

((OOC: count this for Ghost and Jude ))

"Spoken like a true art lover." Paul responded with a chuckle to Maya's comment. "The quality of the work is what should speak to people's hearts but unfortunately there are many that would reject these pieces outright because of its creator."

Turning his gaze back to Jude, Paul considered the young man's statement. It was true that the average human might think these sorts of abilities were cheating... "But isn't it even more impressive that this artist not only had to master his artistic ability but he had to master his genetic ability as well? Sure that genetic ability may have given him more way to express the artistic side, but the ability on its own did not make him artistic or even good. It was the combining fo those so shouldn't his skill on both fronts be celebrated?"

The young man was beginning to impress Paul. He was protective of what many referred to as the weaker sex, he was thoughtful in his speach, and above all else he was French! What more could a body ask for? Paul couldn't claim to be French in body but his love for the language, the food, and the culture, allowed him at least claim that his heart was French. It would have been nice to pass the entire evening simply standing with these two and chatting but regretfully there were two reasons that Paul couldn't do such a thing. The first was that they were blocking the path way and more than likely people would begin to get annoyed and the second was that Paul still had more scouting to do before he could pull off his crime.

"I'm sorry, I've been rambling and holding you up from examining the rest of the art." Paul said with a sheepish smile, "Please don't let me stop you from enjoying the rest of the exhibit." Not moving off right away, Paul waited to see what their reaction would be. If the opportunity to continue walking around with them presented himself then it would provide excellent cover while he continued scouting. If they wanted to enjoy the rest of the exhibit alone then he would graciously bow out and then find another way to make this work.

Roach's patience had worn itself down to a twig, and that twig was about to snap.

The comments flooded in like an endless river of snobby attempts at intellect. Yuppies. So many Yuppies. How would he get them away from him? He didn't want to get discovered... A skittering in his shell reminded him of a viable option... His little friends... he wondered how many were hitching a ride on him right now!

He buzzed his shell in a barely noticeable movement, and shook a little roach loose. The bug fell onto the ground at his feet. Another little shake, and two more.

It wasn't long before one of the yuppies noticed the bugs. "oh my... Are those real?" Three more fell out, and one immediately took flight.

The crowd freaked out, and people stumbled over each other in a panic... Roach resisted the urge to laugh... it was only a bug... All of them took flight, and spread themselves around the room.

>>”Oh god.” she said, ”Please don’t ruin tea for me. I won’t have anything to drink.”

Ashton smirked. Led the way, he did. As they approached, hushed whispers broke out in the group.

Something was happening with the crowd now. Someone rushed away from the cockroach statue. Ashton arched an eyebrow.

"Huh."

Then another person ran. "Oh, gross!" She said. "Bugs!"

People stumbled over each other.

"This," Ashton noticed. "Is trouble." Whatever the hell it was. Maybe it was just cockroaches in art.

(OOC: Jumping in to post again just to see if we can keep things going.)

IC:

Just as Paul was telling the young woman and her young charge to enjoy the rest of the exhibit a commotion began slightly behind and to his right. Turning, he raised an eyebrow as he watched people begin to quickly move away from a rather strange looking statue and then a voice spoke loud enough for everyone to hear. "Oh, gross! Bugs!" "Get it off! Get it off!" A shrill voice suddenly screamed as a woman began slapping at her leg in obvious horror and disgust. Her screams increased in pitch and volume as the insect continued to migrate higher and higher underneath the folds of her silk gown.

"This is... unexpected." He murmured to himself, lifting an arm to glance at his watch almost without realizing it. His planned distraction wasn't supposed to take place for another half hour or so but wouldn't it be better to act during a situation that he had not planed and had absolutely no connection to? Making a decision, Paul eyes narrowed ever so slightly and he felt himself changing into work mode. If he was going to get that painting then he needed to act now while both the private security and the police were distracted. Turning, Paul gave Maya and Jude both a smile, "Excuse me, but I should go see if there's anything I can do. Enjoy the exhibit."

Turning, Paul walked toward the crowd but then veered around it, expertly avoiding the police and security cameras. In a few moments he was at the door that led back to the monitoring room. A visual sweep of the room confirmed that the authorities were focused elsewhere and so he pulled out his lock pick set and quickly opened the door. Seconds later he was inside and moving down a narrow hallway toward the sound of chuckling and laughter while pulling on his pair of black surgical gloves. Inside the two guards were being highly entertained by the antics of the guests that were trying to get away from the roaches that had appeared on the floor. With their distraction it was only the work of a few moments to disable them and leave them lying unconscious on the floor.

"So far we're ahead of schedule." He murmured with a slight smile as he watched the monitors for a moment, "Now if those bugs can just keep everyone occupied for just a few more minutes..."