As the tour moved into the science classroom Rowan's curiosity swelled again. His eyes darted around the room, through all the shelves and tables. There was just so much...stuff! And things! It was almost overwhelming. None of the science classes he attended had this much stuff in them! It was hard to trust troubled youth with chemicals, scalpels, and gas burners.

There were even beakers, just like in scienc-y movies!

His gaze eventually ended on the dog bed, and he remained looking at the bed for a long time. He had already established that Ms. Sundance wasn't a shifter...did that mean the school had a dog? Like a real dog?! Rowan couldn't even remember the last time he got to pet a dog.

Oh shoot Liz was asking a question. Rowan looked away from the dog bed and turned his attention back towards Liz. He didn't make eye contact or anything, but he did turn to face her.

"The school's...nice. It, uhm, feels familiar but also really...different."

Rowan huffed quietly, that hadn't made as much sense as it did in his head.

"I hope I get to take a class in here...this room is cool..."

The best time to observe someone was when they were distracted by other things. It was one of the things Liz liked about giving tours - it gave so many opportunities for people to look away while Liz could gauge their reactions. Fortunately Rowan barely seemed to need her to direct his attention to things because he seemed eager enough to go there first himself.

And Liz smiled, for it was good.

The teacher was getting a good picture of the whole the kid was, or at least what he’d been through and what he might face. Sadly, he wasn’t the first kid she’d ever met in the situation. A mutation he was ashamed of or scared of enough to completely shut down when asked about. A history of fighting, possibly before the mutation manifested? Potential history of victimization and distrust of adults or other people. Fearful of losing things or not having, but used to both.

But he still had bright, wide-open eyes. He wasn’t broken. There was still a kid in there, hidden behind protective barriers. And that, in the end was all Liz needed to know. She wasn’t much trained on getting through all those barriers herself, but if time was all that was needed, as well as care and positive influences, then Liz was already counting it as a victory.

And the school had some of the foremost experts in the world on teaching young people to control and master their powers. Liz made another mental note, this time to maybe have Sam properly evaluate Rowan’s abilities, so they could get started on working with him as soon as possible.

“Exactly,” Liz said in agreement. “In the end, this school is just like any other, except that most of the students board here and some can set things on fire with their minds or break other laws of physics.” She swept her hand around to indicate the classroom. “I fully imagine you’ll have a couple of classes in here. You’re not going to be able to get out of science classes and there aren’t exactly many other science teachers around these halls, so you’ll definitely have me several times.” She smiled as she talked.