Liz paused for a moment to think, her hands in mid-shove as she tried bringing some organization to their buffet and dining space. “Um, I’d say at least two, no more than twelve. Just don’t overeat or wreck your appetite for dinner?” Well that was a first. Usually kids didn’t bother asking parameters for food-diving. They just grabbed as much as they wanted/could hold and scrammed. But Liz gathered that there was something in Rowan’s past that made that not a valid option, and it wasn’t manners.

“Just dig in and help yourself,” she said as she whisked her way over to a cabinet where paper plates were stored. She snagged several, as well as a box of plastic cutlery and paper napkins and returned with them to the island. “We’ve got plenty to go around.” And with that, she stabbed a plastic spoon into the meat and scooped out a mound onto a plate. She grabbed another spoon and did the same with the beans and repeated the process with the corn, which she then took over to the microwave to warm up.

Liz added more mental notes to the list she was compiling, rehearsing them in her head so she wouldn’t forget. She’d taken a couple of courses in early childhood education, but didn’t have much training in child psychology. She knew there were things going on in Rowan - she’d seen similar signs in students before. But that was beyond Elizabeth’s training and far beyond her powers.

But what she could do was try to make Rowan feel at home. The microwave dinged and she took out her warmed-up ingredients. “Yours if you want it,” she said with a nod towards the microwave as she gravitated over to a second fridge. She opened it with her free hand and grabbed a bottle of very hot taco sauce. “What condiments do you like? We got salsas, taco sauce, I think this here is queso…”

More than two burritos and less than twelve. Yeah he could manage that. He accepted the paper plate and cutlery with a slight nod in thanks. He watched Liz assemble her meal first, and then followed suit. He assembled his burrito, avoiding the vegetables, quickly.

And by the time Liz turned around, and asked if he wanted any toppings, Rowan had almost finished his first burrito,not even taking the time to warm it up, and was reaching for his second. Having sharp teeth made chewing easy. He swallowed the last bite he had taken, wiping at his mouth with the back of his hand.

"O-oh...uhm...salsa please."

The young mutant seemed to be in a better mood once he had something in his stomach. He finished his second burrito quickly, and started assembling his third. He seemed to have a large appetite, his thin and small frame being deceptive. Eventually it was Rowan who began the conversation again.

"Have you been a teacher here long? Is it...fun?"

Liz peaked out from the other side of the fridge door to wink at Rowan. “Salsa comin’ right up!” She tucked the taco sauce into the crook of one arm and snagged the jar of salsa before spinning and kicking the door shut with a single move. Fortunately her hair was still high and tight on her head or else the motion would’ve caused it to smack herself in the face.

She made her way back to the table and sat the condiments down somewhat in the center as she started building her own burrito, but without the speed Rowan was moving. Liz held back a smile at the kid’s appetite, since she could see trace evidence of a massacred burrito already on his plate. She wasn’t going to comment, she was just going to enjoy. Progress started small.

Liz grabbed a tortilla and began layering ingredients into it. As always she ended up overstuffing it because she never correctly judged how much food a single flour tortilla could hold. But she was a trooper and bit in, even as the back bulged and threatened to spill half its contents onto her plate.

And now he was starting the talking. Good! Food was miraculous. She dabbed at her mouth with a napkin and grabbed a fork to scoop up the fallout of her burrito. “I’ve been a teacher here for the entire semester, about six months,” she said thoughtfully. “It’s like any part of teaching - it can be tough and trying, but also so rewarding.”

She swallowed a small bite and smiled conspiratorially. “But yeah, it’s definitely fun. Back when I was a student here, like just a couple of months after I got my powers some kind accidentally made a bread dough golem in this very kitchen. It was extremely delicious. Well, after one baked it to death, that is.” She gave up on her burrito and just dropped it on her plate, where she proceeded to slice it into little bits. Most of the filling had fallen out so she might as well lean into making it a taco salad.

“What about you?” she said as she stabbed a diced tomato with a fork and dragged it through the ground beef on her plate before soaking it in a pool of taco sauce. “What’s your idea of fun?”

It was, for a moment, reassuring to hear that Ms. Sundance was new to the school as well, until she mentioned she had also been a student. But then she mentioned a bread dough golem. What sort of mutation could make bread dough come to life? Yeast-mancy? Rowan didn't want to know, so he didn't ask. The last thing he wanted to be told was that some sort of bread wizard was also a teacher here now.

Rowan wasn't exactly sure how to tell this teacher, who was basically a human cinnamon bun, that his favorite pass time was getting in fights. Plus that would probably have gotten him put on some watchlist. He began to assemble his fourth, or maybe fifth he had lost count, burrito.

"Well...when I was younger me and some friends would break into abandoned buildings and just...ya know, look around.

He scratched at the side of his head, okay...maybe talking about breaking and entering was just as bad at talking about fights.

"Or we would climb trees, and carve our names at the very top, and go camping and build forts...ya know...exploring and stuff."

Rowan took a large bite, sharp teeth flashing, swallowing it quickly.

"It's been a long time since I've done any stuff like that though. Reformatory schools really don't give you any unsupervised time off campus. So I mostly read or play video games..."

Liz only paused for a fraction of a second before sliding the fork into her mouth. Breaking into abandoned buildings? That wasn’t even close to what she had expected Rowan to say. Wasn’t something she really expected anyone to say, but especially not to an adult at the school you’re now going to be living at within an hour of meeting her.

At least he was talking. He seemed more at ease and his words weren’t so halting or preconsidered. Liz liked to think it was all because of her presence and personality, but she was practical enough to admit the food was likely doing all the work.

There was a lot to unpack in just those few sentences though. However, Liz allowed no judgement or concern to show. Besides, worse things than that happened on a nearly daily basis around here. No matter how alert I am.

“Sounds like a lot of adventures were had!” she said as she speared more food on her plasticware. Putting a hand up to block her mouth, she continued, “I’m not sure there’s much in the way of fort-building supplies on campus, but the estate is still pretty vast, has a ton of tall trees, and even has a hedge maze in the back. And a swimming pool.” Liz had, however, made a fantastic fort in the library in her younger years. She’d led her fellow students in an office supply battle and it had been glorious. Which reminded her…

“We have a lot of stuff inside as well. An amazing library, a lounge, computer lab, and we keep quite a few entertainment options available. Not to mention whatever other students bring in as well.” Liz carefully refrained from mentioning excursions beyond the campus or visiting the city as a whole. Normally she wouldn’t think anything of it, but knowing there was a history of violence and fighting, even if she didn’t know details, meant that she wasn’t going to get the lad’s hopes up or give him ideas if Gemma or the headmaster decided on restrictions for him.

“I used to camp off and on when I was a kid,” she said as she started spooning more burrito fixing onto her plate. She didn’t bother warming them up this time. “Nowadays, the closest I get is when I’m flying or going for a ride-along. But it’s just not the same when you’re a bird or a dog and you’re just passing through.”

Rowan listened quietly, his excitement growing for his tour the more Ms. Sundance mentioned about the school. He tried not to appear too eager as he stacked his cutlery on his plate, finally feeling full. He started sweeping up any burrito fillings that escaped with his hands, tidying the spot at the counter he had been eating over. When Liz mentioned camping he perked up again.

"I've...always wanted to go camping...closest I've been is 'camping' in the backyard."

>> But it’s just not the same when you’re a bird or a dog and you’re just passing through.

When...you're a bird or a dog? Had...Ms. Sundance mentioned what her mutation was? She is a teacher here, and once was a student, which means she had to be a mutant. Rowan recalled the bird that had been on her shoulder. For a moment Rowan tried to connect the raven to what Ms. Sundance had said, to figure it out without asking, but quickly gave up.

"Uhm...Sorry if this is rude to ask but...are you a shifter too?"

Liz noted Rowan’s efforts to clean up and to her it seemed eating had done the lad a world of good. Good. Good good good. Her method for lulling people and animals into the open was batting a thousand. And it was a pretty convenient because she'd worked up a bit of an appetite spending all that time outside playing with Muninn and waiting for Rowan.

“Well, we do have a pretty big backyard,” Liz said with a wink. “Although we do have a curfew here. But if you request permission in advance or get an adult to chaperone, it shouldn’t be an issue.” And a thought occurred to her. “We might also have a camping trip planned for a small group of students, but we’re still sorting out the details.” As in Liz had the documents and proposals all set and ready but she still needed to get Sam to actually look over them and sign off for his sections of it.

Rowan’s questions brought a sudden laugh to her lips. A few pieces of meat sprayed out before she managed to block her mouth with her hand. “Sorry about that,” she said mirthfully. “No no, it’s not rude at all. Pretty much everyone here is a mutant and that’s usually the first question everyone will ask you, even before they ask your name.” Liz snagged a napkin to wipe up her sprayed food from the counter in front of her.

“No, I’m an animal psychic,” she continued amusedly. “One of my specialties is possessing animals and going for psychic ride-alongs. I get to experience everything they do. I wish I was an animal shifter though - it would make a lot of things far easier.” She stared off wistfully for just a moment. Such as only dealing with one animal mind, instead of up to hundreds or thousands. Good grief, the amount of migraine medicine she’d save if she could only shapeshift!

“Your turn then,” she said as she poked her fork in his direction. “I told you mine. You tell me yours?”

A curfew huh? Well a curfew was only a suggestion, until you get caught that is. But Rowan knew better than to to tell Liz of his history in ignoring curfews. Plus the thought of getting to go on a school camping trip was enough to make him consider following school rules. He might be at a mutant school, but the thought of field trips almost made it feel...normal again.

Liz's description of her mutation piqued his interest. His eyes widened, how cool would it be to hop in the brain of a bird to fly around? Or a cat napping in the sun?

But then Liz stopped talking about her mutation, and turned the question back on him. The young mutant immediately closed off, no longer glancing at Liz when she spoke, arms crossed over his chest. Rowan really didn't want to say, but figured he really didn't have a choice. Besides, his mutation was probably listed on a dozen different documents by now.

"I'm a...shifter...I shift into...into a...uh...big wolf...thing..."

That felt...bad to say. He could no longer tell himself that his mutation was just anger issues, or a nightmare, or an overactive imagination. People had seen him shift, there was no denying what he was anymore. The whole 'mutant' label was only a week old for him, and he wasn't exactly excited to admit it.

Rowan seemed lost in thought, his eyes stuck to the floor no longer looking around the room curiously. He picked nervously at his hands.

The jaws snapped shut.

As soon as her question left her mouth, she watched Rowan respond and immediately they were back to square one. Reluctant speech, avoiding eye contact, a complete cold front. It was such a drastic change, too, from the boy who’d been talking about his adventures and eagerly asking questions. But her own question had knocked the lights out fast.

Liz sensed this was one of the major things troubling him so she took a moment to calculate her next words to leave the best impression. She didn’t want to entirely spook him. But at least this part wasn’t a new story to her. It was actually one she had experience with.

Elizabeth smiled. “Well then, I imagine you’ll fit in quite well around here!” she said as she set her fork on her plate. There wasn’t much left of her burrito salad bowl anyways. She began recovering the trays of food, completely aware that Rowan was looking lost without a thing to do. It was probably time for that tour.

“At some point I think you should meet Aoi and Carrick,” she continued, her words aimed at Rowan while her attention was on cleaning. “Great kids.” Well, Carrick wasn’t a kid, not really. And ‘great’ isn’t the best way to describe him either. “Aoi is a polar bear-shifter. Carrick turns into a gryphon, or a mutant form when he’s very stressed. When I was a student I even had a friend here who could turn into dinosaurs and prehistoric beasts. It was...wild, to say the least.”

What Liz wasn’t saying was that she understood the baggage that came from animal mutations. And there were so many others who lived it every day. And dear God, did she actually suggest Carrick could be a role model for someone?!

Rowan sat quietly as Liz cleaned up, not entirely sure how to help. He was still lost in thought. Would he really have to tell...everyone about his mutation? He already felt ashamed and freakish saying it once, no less if he had to do it multiple times a day.

At the mention of other shifter students Rowan sat up slightly. He still was not making eye contact, but he was less curled up than before. The idea of meeting students with a similar mutation to him was both comforting and terrifying. It would be amazing to meet people who might understand him, but Rowan still was struggling with his identity as a mutant. What if these students were better at controlling their mutations? Or found Rowan's lack of control juvenile?

But he really didn't know how to say that, so instead he said,

"Oh...that's cool..."

And yeah, Griffons were alright, but dinosaurs were really cool. Rowan sat up a little more, uncrossing his arms.

"Wait...like real dinosaurs?"

Liz smiled. Rowan did not seem interested in other shapeshifters at all until she mentioned dinosaurs. Because dinosaurs were amazing and Liz couldn’t blame him. She herself was similarly entranced with them, although modern animals tended to steal her focus more.

Liz nodded as she stacked some of the trays and started moving them back to the fridge. They were significantly lighter now, which was a good thing. “Yep, very real. Or at least as real as anyone could tell based on modern paleontological studies,” she said as she nudged the fridge door open.

“Although now that you mention it, every form she took was rather...dessicated.” Amber’s mutation certainly came with a number of side effects. In those years before Liz had left for college, it got to be rough sometimes watching her vibrant friend take on corpse-like characteristics, all because of her mutation. Examples like that were why Liz continually thanked God for her own gifts, despite all the troubles they’d brought her over the years.

“But she did things other than straight up dinosaurs though. Ever hear of a dimorphodon? Imagine a pterodactyl the size of a hawk but with teeth and a puffin’s beak.” And with dead skin and an emaciated appearance. Liz decided that wasn’t what Rowan wanted or needed to hear at the moment. Granted, a lot of folks like disgusting stuff like that, but Liz didn’t want to risk anything that pushed him away right now.

The shifter tipped his head like a curious dog. Desiccated? Like...dead? Like a Zombie Dinosaur? That was probably the coolest concept for a movie like...ever. Dinosaurs come back to life, but they are zombies and try to take over the world...something like that.

Rowan was pulled from his 'next hit movie' daydream by the clinking of metal trays. Oh yeah, the two were supposed to be cleaning up. The young mutant hopped down from his chair and quietly brought his plate and cutlery over to a sink. He wasn't entirely sure if he was doing the correct thing, but couldn't easily spot a dishwasher.

At least his plate was off the counter. He turned in Liz's direction. Rowan looked slightly more relaxed, his posture less stiff than it had been as he explained his mutation, but he was still too nervous to make eye contact. Regardless, the mention of zombie dinosaurs didn't seem to disturb him. 

"I'd still like a tour...if that's alright..." He paused a moment, scratching at his face in thought. "Mostly the classrooms...I don't want to be lost first day of classes."

Liz managed to slide the first batch of trays into the fridge, albeit with difficulty. It was much easier without as much food in them, after all. Once they were returned to their spots, she whirled back to the counter for the rest.

Rowan was up and moving and not even to the nearest exit. Oh good, I haven’t ruined him already. That was a relief. She blew a single escaped strand of hair out of her face. What she would’ve given to be able to manipulate human emotions in that moment, to figure out what was in the kid’s head and to ensure it’s what she wanted in there. Instead she had to settle for watching him like a falcon, analyzing everything for weak spots and potential threats. Fortunately, Liz had quite a bit of practice doing that. Falcons were incredible hunters.

And unfortunately, some people viewed kids as prey.

Liz broke into a smile as she stacked the other tray and took them to their frigid resting place. “Yep, a tour is still alright. Be kind of mean to just turn you loose in a giant, new place like this and expect you to find anything. Especially when we don’t have as many students and staff around due to the holidays.” And because some of the staff had turned into students within the past year. Liz still couldn’t get over the fact that such widespread reverse-aging had happened.

Now all that was left was to throw her plate and plasticware away and return the salsa and taco sauce to the fridge and they’d be good to go. So she did just that.

“Shall we?” Liz said invitingly as she hovered by the entrance.

>> “Shall we?”

Rowan nodded, joining Liz at her side. And the two began the official tour. Rowan kept close to Liz, but still glanced into classrooms or down halls.

The young mutant was still surprised by how...normal this place was. It felt just like any other school he had been sent to. But spotting the occasional student with a physical mutation reminded Rowan where he had ended up. Still it was certainly nice to get the tour while the halls and classrooms were empty, less people starring at him.

After a few minutes into the tour he began asking questions again. Lots of simple questions like how many students attended the school, and how many his age. He asked about certain classes, and if they had a lot of homework or reading assignments. He asked if the library had good study material for tests. Despite Rowan's...rougher past and appearance, it was clear that he was interested in learning.

But Rowan was also asking about where he could find pencils and notebooks. He really hadn't arrived at the school with much, only the one bag. So while Rowan seemed excited for his classes he also appeared woefully unprepared for them.

Liz kept them at a moderate amble as they made their way through the teaching wing, where the vast majority of classrooms were located. She didn't want to go too fast, because as she’d learned earlier, Rowan seemed to be very curious about all of his surroundings. This gave him plenty of time to soak it all in and as he warmed up to the tour, so did his tongue.

The zoopath found herself answering a hurricane of questions about so many facets of everything related to school at the mansion. She took him through many of the (better decorated) classrooms so he could get a general glimpse of where he might be spending large chunks of his coming days. She also had to respond to all his questions about those other teachers and their classes. Many of her answers ended up as shrugs and “I honestly don’t have a clue” - after all, she was pretty much focused on what her class did.

The blonde wasn’t at all put out by the questions. As a teacher and a scientist (and a woman who’d been inside the head of so many other inquisitive critters) she found the barrage invigorating. Chattering with purpose was a sign of curiosity and passion. If Rowan had a fire like this over simple things like curriculums and syllabi, then Liz believed many other rough patches could be smoothed over. She might even be able to work with him herself, as she had begun working with many of the other students with shapeshifting powers. As she had told Gemma when she’d been hired, her mutation tended to lend her a deeper insight when it came to instincts and animal behaviors.

And finally they arrived at her classroom, which was part lecture hall, part lab, and part museum of weird things. There was a dog bed and a bird’s perch in the far corner by her desk, for when she sometimes brought in her pets (or one of the students did). Student desks covered the front half and the back half had tables with built-in sinks and gas hookups. The walls were covered in shelves and cabinets full of all kidneys of supplies both mundane and esoteric, including beakers and chemicals and skeletons of various animals and even a cow embryo in a jar of formaldehyde.

After reassuring Rowan about the school’s ample ability to supply him with all the resources and materials he would need, Liz finally asked what he thought about the school so far.