Despite getting the approval from both Logan and Kitty to allow her to stay, with very little argument from either, she didn't move out of the lab right away. Partly because of her nameless statues and she didn't like the idea of socializing without one, though Broo had once referred to her as a conduit and it appeared to be sticking. Also she'd thought it easier to simply stay in the lab while Dr McCoy appeared determined to run any and all test he could on her. She didn't mind it too much and it seemed to make him happy. Mostly she was more then a little afraid to put herself out there. She'd never had any real interaction with others, not just of her kind but with... anyone and wasn't sure she was ready to try it just yet. So she stayed in the lab for another several weeks despite Hank's urging that she leave it, at least for a while, and get to know some of the students.
Though her age was largely inconclusive some of her memories indicated that she'd been around for quite a while, although even that was questionable as she seemed unsure as to whether or not these were memories or just fragments carried by the ancient energies she's made of. Despite the fact that she has, apparently, lived for a long time Hank had deduced, mostly by her behavior, that she is still relatively young and believed rather adamantly that she needed to be out socializing with 'kids her own age'. To which she would argue that he doesn't know how old she is, but neither did she so the argument never seemed to hold much weight.
For nearly another two months she rarely left the lab, usually when she knew there wouldn't be many other students around. Sometimes she would get caught up in an awkward and slightly panicked conversation with an unsuspected mutant that she would quickly escape and flee back to the lab, waiting a bit before trying again. In this way she managed to explore a good amount of the school on her own when neither Hank nor Broo were there to entertain her.
One day Dr McCoy was called off on urgent business, she didn't know much more then that, so he packed up and disappeared, Broo trailing after him. They were gone for about three days leaving her with only the occasional Bamf for company and they were more annoying then anything. For the most part they left her alone although if she allowed her mind to drift to long on of them usually ended up tangled in her hair. She suspected it was because the glow got their attention and since it was long enough to reach the floor when she stood they didn't have to work very hard to get at it.
Around the third day she found herself growing rather lonely in the lab. Sure she had never socialized much but she would place herself in the middle of busy places, malls, bustling city streets, festivals, and concerts, just to surround herself with people when she started feeling too isolated and she'd gotten so used to the near constant presence of Broo and Dr McCoy she was really starting to feel their absence. Sure, Hank had called a few times since his sudden departure to check in on her and to make sure the Bamfs weren't breaking or stealing anything but it wasn't the same.
Twice she'd considered taking off. She could be anywhere in the world in the blink of an eye and there wasn't actually anything keeping her tied to the lab, or even the school and she was pretty sure if she did no one would notice her absence until the Dr and Broo returned. Though they both seemed pretty attached to her, at least she liked to think so, and she was maybe a little attached to them. After all they were some of the very few she'd ever had a real relationship of any kind with anyone and she didn't like to imagine their disappointment if they came back to an empty lab.
The hours passed slowly without Dr. McCoy there to watch over his shoulder or Broo to talk about homework. The little alien was so smart she was hardly helping him, though they had been surprised to find that she had a great knowledge of math and biology. Now she was doing little more then watching the clock.
She took a small amount of interest in noticing that the students lunch hour was quickly approaching. This was one of the few opportunities where almost the entire student body was in one place. It would be easy to slip out and explore with diminished chances of running into anyone. She sighed. Despite this she didn't usually explore at lunch, choosing instead to stay in the lab with Broo who would bring her a slice of pizza.
She didn't exactly need to eat but she could if she wanted. Anything she ate would immediately burn up in her body, she may bet the benefit of gaining some energy but nothing that would do anything for her in a pinch. It was really just a habit she'd picked up to fit in and pizza was her absolute favorite, all types and topping welcome, she'd been all over to have pizza everywhere that claimed to have something special to offer.
Now with Broo gone she didn't exactly have any pizza or lunch hour conversation to look forward to so there really was nothing else to do but explore and she would never have a better chance to do so uninterrupted. So she stole out of the lab and quietly and cautiously made her way through the halls, taking a path she's taken several times before, hoping to reach a part of the school she hadn't seen. The campus was so big, by her estimate she's seen maybe half of it and that's provided there's wasn't even more of it hiding underground, which she didn't doubt for a minute.
As she moved slowly through the halls, looking for any rooms or a passage way she might have missed that last time she'd went that way. From where she was she could hear the voiced of the students. From past explorations she knew she wasn't far from the cafeteria but this is the first time she'd been out when it was actually in use. Part of her wanted to go in the opposite direction so as to avoid the young mutants enjoying their lunches. Another part of her, however, was incredibly curious to see what a large room full of happy, carefree, mutant children looked like.
When she reached the end of the hall and was faced with the choice of either investigating the students or exploring the grounds. She stood there for about 5 minutes, tense and torn. She looked down the hallway, away the from the noise. This would be the perfect chance to go where ever she wanted without having to worry about being seen or approached. Then she looked the other way. She could see the room where the kids were eating. It looked so... nice.
The anxiety and tension built within her until the damn broke and finally she resolved herself and dispersed. To an onlooker in would appear as if her form suddenly broke down, becoming several smaller balls of light the hovered for just a moment before being suddenly and harshly pulled in on direction before disappearing all together.
She reappeared hovering about a foot off the ground peering around the large doors of the cafeteria. She wouldn't go in, she'd decided, just... observe. It would be just like when she sits in the park and watches the people and animals go about their lives. It was odd how much more comfortable she was in a crowded place when she knew no one was interested in her. But being here in such a reletively large but very close nit community... she felt uncomfortable, like she didn't belong. Like she was intruding even though she'd been invited to stay. She'd grown to very used to looking in from the outside she had no idea how exist on the inside.
Never before had she quite seen anything like the cafeteria at The Jean Grey Academy for the Gifted. It was amazing how different every individual mutant was from the next. Some looked just like people she would see on the streets other had fur, or scales, or feathers. Some of them mostly human others she would never guess were ever anything human to start. Some of them didn't even seem to made of organic matter or like crystals or rock, some of them didn't even appear solid.
She stood there, marveling at the incredibly animated scene before her for a long moment. Too long, she realized when she made eye contact with one of the students. Curious brown eyes peered at her from a scaly green face. She watched, almost frozen, as he said something to the student across from him, a hulking humanoid figure that appeared to be made of rocks and boulders. The figure shifted a bit and looked over it's shoulder right at her. She snapped out of her deer-in-the-headlights trance and whirled around, pressing her back against the wall. She should have gone exploring.
She waited a moment to see if anything would happen. No one came out. In fact nothing changed. The conversations continued like no one had noticed. Curious she slowly turned and peeked around the door again. The green boy was still watching, he smiled and waved at when she reappeared, the mountain had gone back to his food, though at his friends movement he glanced back at the door. She looked around for a moment unsure of what to do. She could just leave, with a though she could be back in the lab. The boy motioned for her to come in when her gaze landed back on him. When she didn't move he did it again a bit more insistent this time.
Slowly, almost reluctantly, she left the safety of the hall and made her way toward the two, all the while looking around as if she expected to be attack. Everyone else was too caught up in their own lunch or conversation to notice her.
"Hey!" The boy greeted as she approached. His friend offered a friendly "'sup."
"Hi..." She muttered, unsure of what to do.
The scaley student picked up on her hesitance. "You can sit down." He offered with an amused smirk and the mountain moved over a bit, or tried to.
Hesitantly she slid in with them. "You're the girl from the yard, right?" The mountain asked, though they didn't seem to need and answer.
"We were wondering what happened to you?" The reptilian said lightly, digging back into his mac and cheese. "I asked Professor McCoy a while ago and he said you were in a coma or something. Guess I thought there was be an announcement when you woke up." She shrugged a little and stared down at her lap. "I'm Victor." He smiled and held out his free hand to her. She glanced up. His arm was covered in a thicker hide then the other one. Thick Spines grew from it, the largest of which protruded from his shoulder, and thick sharp claws capped off his finger. Again she didn't react. Just leaned back and bit and stared at the offered limb.
After a moment his smile fell and he pulled back his hand. "Sorry." He said, dropping his fork to compare it to his less mutated hand. "I got so used to it I forget sometimes."
"No!" She jumped in quickly, realizing her silence had been taken for something more offensive. "I just- I'm not very accustomed to social interaction." She admitted sheepishly. "I... Don't really know what to do."
"Names a good start." The larger student urged gently.
"Oh. I don't really..." She paused. What was it that Broo and Hank said she was? "Ah... Conduit." She said, trying to sound confident but really it just came out unsure.
The rock smiled. At least she thought he did. It was hard to tell but the surface of his face shifted and he appeared a little less intimidating. "Santo." He offered. "But folks around here call me Rockslide."
She couldn't help but laugh at that. "That's cute!" She said, before she could stop herself. Victor laughed at her reaction and Santo grumbled something before going back to his food.
They went on like that until lunch ended. Conduit, she was beginning to enjoy having a real name even it was closer to the codenames most of the students had like Anole or Rocklide then an actual name, actually found herself enjoying her first real conversation. They seemed genuinely interested in her, what she could do, and what she had to say. It was very different actually being a part of the activity and she was actually glad she'd come in instead of watching from the doorway.
After lunch Victor and Santo had to go to class and she chose to retire back to the lab.
"There you are." She heard a familiar, friendly voice say as she reappeared in the room.
"Professor McCoy!" She cheered seeing the big blue doctor looking at her over a screen. Broo was tinkering with something in corner.
The Broodling looked up. "You're back!" He called, hopping down from his chair to scurry across the room. "Proffessor McCoy that you'd finally left."
"Nope." She chirped.
"Exploring the school again?" Hank asked, coolly.
"Uh. No..." Conduit answered, suddenly sheepish. "I... was in the cafeteria."
"Really?" Hank and Broo seemed surprised but pleased that she'd willingly gone somewhere full of students after she'd spent so much of her time avoiding them at all costs. "Meet anyone interesting?" Hank ventured, hoping she had indeed actually spoken with the students instead of just watching them from some unseen secluded corner.
"Oh! Yes." She grinned.
"Oh yeah?" He urged after a moment. Conversations with her often went this way. She hadn't yet mastered the back-and-forth part of things, though he found once he got her to start she required less and less prodding. "Who'd you meet?"
"Uhm... Victor and Santo." She answered after a moment of hesitation, afraid she'd forgotten their names.
"Oh!" Again Hank was pleasantly surprised. "They're good boys. Victor is one of the top students and I'm sure if Santo applied himself..." He trailed off. "I'm glad your finally making friends. Maybe you'll consider moving into the students quarters?"
"Uh..." Conduit cringed. She wasn't sure she was quite ready to leave the familiar safety of the lab just because she's spoken to two students for a few minutes.
"I understand." Hank laughed, amused by her unease. "Baby steps."